storypaint (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
storypaint) wrote2009-10-06 10:38 am
storypaint) wrote2009-10-06 10:38 am
Entry tags:
Growing (Kurogane gen)
Title: Growing
Fandom: Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle
Length: 885 words
Prompt:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
31_days: 2 Oct 09 // Thus spring begins
Pairing: Kurogane gen; Syaoran/Sakura implied
Other: Spoilers for end of series. Jossed by Epilogue.
Excerpt: She had one delicate hand curled around her tea, the other resting on the bottom of the cup, and she looked up at him and tilted her head to the side and said, "Spring is here."
It's spring. This is what Tomoyo-hime said to Kurogane this morning when he attended her in her chambers. She had one delicate hand curled around her tea, the other resting on the bottom of the cup, and she looked up at him and tilted her head to the side and said, "Spring is here."
He nodded and said nothing. Tomoyo-hime was unpredictable, even if she was at the same time constant. Her non-sequitur would lead somewhere.
"So serious, Kurogane," she said, amusement tracing a soft smile onto her face. "Spring is welcome. It has been cold for too long."
And she said nothing else before sending him away to guard the gates.
*
She does this to him now at least once a month, though not more than once a week. She's found the balance. Guarding the gates is simply an excuse to get him to work less and think more. They are, after all, not going anywhere. The kingdom is peaceful. If he has trouble, it is only with lost drunks or arguing beggars. It is hardly a job worthy of the princess's strongest bodyguard.
He hates gate duty, but he will not disobey her. His strongest bond is to her, the one whom he has promised to protect. It is possible, Kurogane has learned, to keep more than one promise. But hers will always be first, be underneath everything else, the foundation of his being.
It is spring.
The flowers still sleep, the land is still hard with frost and ice, but the princess is right. He can feel it in the air. He stands straight beside the gate, watching the road and ignoring the itch in his false arm. It has been six years now and the pain has faded to an itchy burn as his body has adjusted. That arm will never be as good as it was, but now his other arm is twice as good. He's adapted.
He's thinking about this vaguely, and the fact that it has been six years already since he returned to Japan and Tomoyo-hime's service. He would not say it was like he hadn't left, because that journey had changed him, just in the way that the princess hoped, and he can hardly even muster irritation at that fact. His princess is wise, if manipulative.
He shuts his eyes for only a moment, and feels the wind change.
*
He doesn't have any magic, like the others who traveled with him did. Even the meatbun, as annoying as it is, has strengths to draw on besides the physical. Kurogane anchors himself in sword and strike, even if he is more choosy about those he kills nowadays.
He doesn't have any magic, but he knows, somehow, what that subtle shifting in the air was, and why Tomoyo-hime put him on gate duty this morning, and he is wearing a bored expression when Fai's blonde hair comes into view down the path, attached to the rest of the mage, who is wearing a yukata as if he'd grown up in one.
It's blue and matches well with his eyes and the dress of his companions. Sakura-hime is resplendent in the robes of a high priestess in training, white and purple, and Syaoran is wearing blue too. He's smiling at Sakura and Kurogane notices that for once, he doesn't look so awkward in his movements and his words. The boy is growing up. And the princess, as well, her smile becoming more gentle than joyful, but there nonetheless. Mokona is resting on her shoulder, cuddled into her neck.
"I am so happy that my children have come back again!" Mokona trills in Kurogane's voice, and Sakura laughs sweetly.
"Kuro-pon, you seem so excited to see us!" Fai declares, against all evidence, wrapping the ninja in a hug despite his lack of reciprocation. He peels Fai off but lets Sakura hug him next without looking too pained, because that always makes her sad. Luckily, the kid settles for a handshake. The meatbun settles itself onto his head possessively.
He is unsurprised to turn back to the gate and see Souma standing there. Tomoyo-hime may have given up her dreamseeing, but she still has a ability to anticipate people that he will never understand. And in any case, it's likely that Fai had told her where he was going when he disappeared from the compound this morning. Tomoyo would want to prepare.
"I'll take the rest of your shift," she says, and he nods to her in thanks, handing her the ceremonial pike and heading in, knowing that his companions are following (except the one still perched in his head, but if it doesn't stop doing imitations, it will be going in ahead of them, because he'll toss it against a wall, he swears to it).
"It's good to be home with Daddy!" the manjuu says in Fai's voice, and Kurogane reaches up and knocks it sideways, but not in any particularly mean way.
He keeps his promises, you see, and that is why they get to meet like this now. He couldn't save the other Syaoran and Sakura, but he did all that he could.
And it is spring.
Fandom: Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle
Length: 885 words
Prompt:
31_days: 2 Oct 09 // Thus spring beginsPairing: Kurogane gen; Syaoran/Sakura implied
Other: Spoilers for end of series. Jossed by Epilogue.
Excerpt: She had one delicate hand curled around her tea, the other resting on the bottom of the cup, and she looked up at him and tilted her head to the side and said, "Spring is here."
It's spring. This is what Tomoyo-hime said to Kurogane this morning when he attended her in her chambers. She had one delicate hand curled around her tea, the other resting on the bottom of the cup, and she looked up at him and tilted her head to the side and said, "Spring is here."
He nodded and said nothing. Tomoyo-hime was unpredictable, even if she was at the same time constant. Her non-sequitur would lead somewhere.
"So serious, Kurogane," she said, amusement tracing a soft smile onto her face. "Spring is welcome. It has been cold for too long."
And she said nothing else before sending him away to guard the gates.
*
She does this to him now at least once a month, though not more than once a week. She's found the balance. Guarding the gates is simply an excuse to get him to work less and think more. They are, after all, not going anywhere. The kingdom is peaceful. If he has trouble, it is only with lost drunks or arguing beggars. It is hardly a job worthy of the princess's strongest bodyguard.
He hates gate duty, but he will not disobey her. His strongest bond is to her, the one whom he has promised to protect. It is possible, Kurogane has learned, to keep more than one promise. But hers will always be first, be underneath everything else, the foundation of his being.
It is spring.
The flowers still sleep, the land is still hard with frost and ice, but the princess is right. He can feel it in the air. He stands straight beside the gate, watching the road and ignoring the itch in his false arm. It has been six years now and the pain has faded to an itchy burn as his body has adjusted. That arm will never be as good as it was, but now his other arm is twice as good. He's adapted.
He's thinking about this vaguely, and the fact that it has been six years already since he returned to Japan and Tomoyo-hime's service. He would not say it was like he hadn't left, because that journey had changed him, just in the way that the princess hoped, and he can hardly even muster irritation at that fact. His princess is wise, if manipulative.
He shuts his eyes for only a moment, and feels the wind change.
*
He doesn't have any magic, like the others who traveled with him did. Even the meatbun, as annoying as it is, has strengths to draw on besides the physical. Kurogane anchors himself in sword and strike, even if he is more choosy about those he kills nowadays.
He doesn't have any magic, but he knows, somehow, what that subtle shifting in the air was, and why Tomoyo-hime put him on gate duty this morning, and he is wearing a bored expression when Fai's blonde hair comes into view down the path, attached to the rest of the mage, who is wearing a yukata as if he'd grown up in one.
It's blue and matches well with his eyes and the dress of his companions. Sakura-hime is resplendent in the robes of a high priestess in training, white and purple, and Syaoran is wearing blue too. He's smiling at Sakura and Kurogane notices that for once, he doesn't look so awkward in his movements and his words. The boy is growing up. And the princess, as well, her smile becoming more gentle than joyful, but there nonetheless. Mokona is resting on her shoulder, cuddled into her neck.
"I am so happy that my children have come back again!" Mokona trills in Kurogane's voice, and Sakura laughs sweetly.
"Kuro-pon, you seem so excited to see us!" Fai declares, against all evidence, wrapping the ninja in a hug despite his lack of reciprocation. He peels Fai off but lets Sakura hug him next without looking too pained, because that always makes her sad. Luckily, the kid settles for a handshake. The meatbun settles itself onto his head possessively.
He is unsurprised to turn back to the gate and see Souma standing there. Tomoyo-hime may have given up her dreamseeing, but she still has a ability to anticipate people that he will never understand. And in any case, it's likely that Fai had told her where he was going when he disappeared from the compound this morning. Tomoyo would want to prepare.
"I'll take the rest of your shift," she says, and he nods to her in thanks, handing her the ceremonial pike and heading in, knowing that his companions are following (except the one still perched in his head, but if it doesn't stop doing imitations, it will be going in ahead of them, because he'll toss it against a wall, he swears to it).
"It's good to be home with Daddy!" the manjuu says in Fai's voice, and Kurogane reaches up and knocks it sideways, but not in any particularly mean way.
He keeps his promises, you see, and that is why they get to meet like this now. He couldn't save the other Syaoran and Sakura, but he did all that he could.
And it is spring.